GRAB THAT ARMOR

We begin February with devotionals based on our prayer list. For the next week our focus will be on  Dressed In the Whole Armor of God for Spiritual Warfare  from Ephesians 6:10-18. As Pastor Cockrell adamantly reminded us last month, Saints, meditate on this Word!

SCRIPTURE: "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints--"[Ephesians 6:10-18 NKJV]

What a spiritual eye-opener when, as “babes in Christ,” we were first alerted to our desperate need for spiritual armor throughout our Christian journey. (I was apprised of this early on in my Christian walk, though admittedly my application has not always been consistent). Whether the Lord found you at age 7 or 77, it must have been a game-changer to receive God’s instruction that we are not to fight our foes with carnal weapons (2 Corinthians 10:4). You know that those who are in Adam –as well as many carnal Christians-- fight through lying (eg., character assassination), gossip, backbiting, pettiness, a thinly-veiled contrarian spirit, and so on. We are, instead, commanded to cling all the more tightly to our divinely provided spiritual armaments when accosted by our visible and invisible enemies!

We are not unaware of the enemy’s tactics; so DAILY strap on those spiritual weapons laid out in God’s Word. The Lord commands His own to employ the weapons of the helmet of salvation, the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, and the Sword of the Spirit. We are said to overwhelmingly conquer through Christ who loves us and purchased our salvation so that we would never have to face the enemy of our souls, or any of his emissaries, in our own limited power or feeble human resources [Romans 8:37].

The more we use these mostly Spirit-empowered weapons, the more adept we become in their deployment! That said, let us heed the godly counsel of our title Scripture, and other similar verses such as John 13:17—which says, “If you know these things, you are blessed if you DO them.” Let us commit in 2024 to consistently strapping on that spiritual armor that we may reap the countless blessings that attend their obedience.

Prayer: Dear Abba, thank You for every good and perfect gift that comes down from You, the Father of lights, in whom there’s no variation nor shadow of turning. Thank You for the spiritual battle gear! AMEN!
By Sis. Denise Diggs